Brendan Witcher

Author Insights

Summer is ending and you’re searching for a grill on sale, and you find the perfect one online. On the website, they say that the grill is currently available at your local store. However, to your dismay, when you arrive at the store, they’ve just sold out of that specific grill. If only the retailer […]

In today’s increasingly crowded digital commerce market and with increasingly tighter budgets, retailers have to make smart choices about which technologies to invest in and which they should forego for now. To help retailers sift through the options, we conduct an annual top trends study. This year, we interviewed more than 30 retail industry professionals to ask about retail […]

Where are you on your company’s journey to personalize the customer’s experience? Are you one of the 89% of digital businesses that are investing in personalization – companies like Coca-Cola, Fabletics, Netflix, Sephora, USAA, and Wells Fargo. What’s new now? Businesses need to evolve their definition of personalization – from tactical segmentation, to strategic individualization. […]

This year’s NRF Show was a surprise, in that it lacked a lot of the hyped-up tech in year’s past (VR in 2017, Beacons in 2016, etc., etc.). That left plenty of room for themes and solutions to shine that let retailers improve in the areas of customer experience, operational efficiency, and incremental, bottom-line profitability. […]

Walmart and Google have announced an important new partnership that directly addresses the growing markets for voice-assisted shopping and free expedited delivery. Marc Lore, president and CEO of Walmart US eCommerce, wrote on Walmart’s blog: “Starting in late September, we’ll be working with Google to offer hundreds of thousands of items for voice shopping via […]

If you believe what you’ve heard in this year’s earnings calls, retailers are losing every dollar of business to Amazon. Are they? No. They’re losing some, but the estimates on Amazon’s pure, non-marketplace growth don’t even come close to every other retailer’s declines. Amazon’s growth is a symptom of – not the reason for – […]

It's a fact: Every time customers are exposed to improved shopping experiences, their expectations are immediately reset to a new higher level. Today’s empowered customers expect seamless brand interactions across every touch point, forcing organizations to replace outdated thought-processes and legacy systems with new ways of doing business. That said, many digital strategy and commerce […]

Omnichannel fulfillment services have indubitably piqued the interest of today’s retail leaders; nearly one-third of the retail organizations we surveyed already support “buy online, pick up in store” (BOPIS) functionality or have plans to implement the technology by the end of next month. However, proponents of omnichannel fulfillment are starting to recognize that simply offering services […]

Today we announce the launch of our brand new Omnichannel Commerce Playbook! In its many forms, omnichannel is quickly resetting customer expectations, and redefining what it means to deliver seamless, fully-integrated commerce across the enterprise. This playbook provides a structured framework to help eBusiness leaders strategically plan, launch, and maintain omnichannel capabilities and services. […]

Robust mobile commerce platforms are no longer a “nice to have” for retail organizations. A recent Shop.org and Forrester Research survey indicates that smartphone sales accounted for 17% of total retail sales in 2015, and that sales from smartphone devices grew 53% year-over-year. With mobile’s stake now planted so firmly in the ground, it is […]

Instacart’s recent $2 billion valuation suggests many believe same-day delivery to be the next standard for fulfilling online orders. Online and mobile food ordering service GrubHub recently showed its commitment to delivery by announcing the acquisition of two players in the food delivery space, DiningIn and Restaurants On The Run. Amazon, too, has been expanding its […]